The Hour

Millions of dogs go missing every year and tragically, few are reunited with their owners. If your beloved pet becomes lost, he or she could end up in an animal shelter and adopted out to a new home and you’d be none the wiser.

National micro-chipping month is a campaign that encourages and promotes responsible pet ownership. Getting your dog micro-chipped is a permanent way of identifying your pet if he or she is in an accident or becomes lost. Cheryl Corral from 3 Mile Vet spoke to The Hour about the importance of micro-chipping. She said:

“Loads of dogs aren’t chipped and the problem is if they have a tag on their collar the wee tags can come off and get lost and their collars can get loose and come off if they’re in an accident.

“Chips are the only permanent way of identification so it means if a lost dog wanders into the police station or a cat and dog home or any vet practice it will be scanned and their details will be connected up with the owners and they’ll be returned as soon as possible.

“It’s still quite useful to have a collar with a tag on it because it means that anyone that finds [your dog] will pick up on a phone number and it’s a bit quicker than taking the dog to a vet’s or the police first.”

Micro-chipping your dog is a fairly simple procedure which involves implanting a chip the size of a grain of rice under the dog’s skin. The chip comes already implanted in a wide bore needle which is inserted between the dog’s shoulder blades, and the whole process is over and done with in seconds.

The dog gets his own unique ID number which is stored on a national database with the details of the dog’s owner. If a lost dog is taken to a vet’s, police station or dog and cat home, he or she will automatically be scanned for a microchip. The chip reads the dog’s temperature as well, which is useful if the dog is unwell.

Cats, dogs and rabbits can also be micro-chipped, and there is no age restriction. Most vets charge around £28 for the procedure.

For more information on 3 Mile Vet see the website.

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